I was born in Germany in 1967. Growing up my friends and I used to wonder why our grandparents hadn’t resisted Hitler’s rise to power. We were young and full of bravado and oh so sure about how outraged and courageous we would have been. But the sad truth of course is that we most likely wouldn’t have and that we were simply talking tough with the double benefits of hindsight and zero actual consequences for ourselves. Most people didn’t protest for one of many possible reasons, including ignorance, disbelief, profiteering, apathy or fear (the latter especially as fascism picked up speed).

Now we are all given an opportunity to protest a slide into fascism right here in the US. Because that is exactly what the deployment of unidentified federal agents into Portland represents. I can’t wait for commenters to show up with anything from “it’s just an election stunt” to “this is just what Portland needs” and seventeen other lame excuses. So let me get this out of the way: if you don’t call this out as fascism, you would not have protested Hitler either. You would have been a supporter or a bystander.

“Albert, you are being overly dramatic.” No. If this is not your line, you don’t have a line, especially as Trump went ahead and publicly proclaimed his plans to roll this out to other cities. This goes against anything the constitution stands for, from due process to states’ rights. It is a direct attempt to intimidate opposition and fire up an ever more aggressive movement. Oh and let me save you the time to head over to Wikipedia for fascism. Here is the opening sentence “Fascism (/ˈfæʃɪzəm/) is a form of far-right, authoritarian ultranationalism characterized by dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition …”

What can you do? Well for starters, use whatever platform you have to call this out as fascism. Then call on your state representatives and senators to do the same. Your governors too. And most importantly get your District Attorneys and Attorney Generals to sue the DHS, as the Oregon has done. We have to use independent institutions as long as these are still functioning. This is crucial because once these go everything goes. And we have to use them to hold the line through the elections in November.

Related: Catalog of excuses.

A version informed by comments: The Threat of a Trump Dictatorship.